Seeking Spanish/Mexican Recipes.

My husband is Mexican. I use his grandma's recipe for enchlada sauce. I use dired ancho pepers and soak them in hot water. You have to keep changing the water and weigh down the pepers so that they stay under. When they are soft, remove the stems and seeds, and put them in a blender and make a paste. Add a couple of large cans of plain tomato sauce, garlic, and salt to taste. Chop onions, grate cheese (I like colby, longhorn, cheedar-any yellow cheese you like) take corn tortillias, roll about a table spoon of oinion and a small handful of cheese into each one, place in a greesed baking dish, cover with sauce and sprinkle with cheese, and bake at 350 until bubbly.

For Tacos, we use ground beef, browned. Add a chopped onion, brown a litttle. Add a can of crushed tomatos and A LOT of fresh garlic and salt to taste. Cover, put on low heat and cook for 30 minutes or more. We fry our own shells, and order the really thin ones, called nylons, on line. Serve with lettuce, tomatos, cheese, hot sauce.

My husbands favorite is Fideo. I buy the small packages in the Mexican food store, but can sometimes find Angle hair that is thin enought. Break it into pieces that are less than an inch, so it is almost like rice. Brown the pasta in a skillet with a few tablespoons of veg. oil. Add a chopped onion, cook a few minutes, stiring constantly, because the fideo burns easliy. Add a can of crushed tomatos, and a lot of fresh garlic (crushed) and salt to taste. Add just enough water to almost cover the fideo. Cover, cook on very low heat until the water is absorbed.

Beans: pick through the beans and take out the yucky ones and rocks. Rinse. Soak for several hours, or over night. Rinse again. Cover beans with several inches of water, add garlic, salt and pork seasoning (I use bacon drippins-you don't need much) Cook on very low boil until done. Add water as needed, keep a very close eye on them not to burn. You can refry by heating up more bacon drippings in a skillet (I like cast iron) Heat the drippings until very hot and careflully dump the cooked beans in, stir.

I make a chili from cubed round steak, browned. Add a chopped onion, a can of green chilis, a can of chopped tomatos, garlic, chili powder, and salt. Cover, and cook on low heat for 35 to 45 minutes. You can put this in large tortillas with beans and cheese and make burritos, or serve it alone.

We fry corn tortillas flat, and make tostadas with beans, cheese and lettuce.

It is not really authentic, but I make a chilli relleno caserole with 10 beaten eggs, two cups (or more if you like) grated yellow cheese of your choice, two cans of chopped green chillis, a can of evaporated milk (you can use low or no fat) and salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a greesed pyrex pan for 50 minutes, or until done in the middle. Serve with tortillas and beans-its a meal.

Spanish rice- brown one cup rice in a tablespoon of oil, add a chopped onion and cook a little. Add in frozen mixed veggies- what ever you have, like peas, carrots, corn. Add garlic, chilli powder, salt and peper to taste and one can of crushed tomatos. Add one and a half to one and 3/4 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to lowest possible, cover, cook for 20 minutes.

That should get you started!
M.

These are our staples, but we do chilli rellenos, and tamales too, which are a little more complicated.

Here are some of my favorites. I'm a white girl but I grew up around Mexican food. These are Tex-Mex recipes. Not interior style Mexican Food. By the way, my recipes call for a lot of cumino (cumin). I do use cumin powder but it's always A LOT better when I take the time to grind up cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle (aka...mochahete)

Authentic Spanish Rice

1 Cup Rice
¼ cup of oil
1 Clove Garlic
¼ cup yellow or white onion
3 Cups Cool/Cold Tap Water
1 Tablespoon Knorr’s Chicken Bouillon powder (comes in a jar with a green lid)
4 Tablespoons of tomato sauce
½ Teaspoon salt

-Add your oil to the pan and lightly brown the rice on medium heat.
-After browning the rice, stir in your garlic and onion to flavor the rice. Stir a few times.
Add in the water, bouillon, tomato sauce and salt.
Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer.
Cook on low for about 15 minutes. Don’t stir the rice. Stirring makes your rice mushy.
Turn off the heat at about 15 minutes then let it sit for about 5 minutes on the same burner to allow the rice to absorb the moisture and make it fluffy!

Beef or Cheese Enchiladas

1. 20 Corn Tortillas
2. Ground beef (browned with small chopped onion and 3. HEAVILY seasoned with chili powder, cumino, garlic powder..salt and pepper too)
4. Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
5. The largest can of chili NO BEANS (like Wolf Brand, Hill Country Fair or HEB). I actually like the Hill Country Fair and HEB brand better than Wolf. ....sounds weird but trust me, it's fantastic. Warm in a pan so that it will thin out.

-Spread a few spoonfuls of the chili into the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.
-Heat up a small skillet with chicken broth or water. Dip tortillas, one at a time in simmering water.
-place tortilla in baking dish and spoon in one or two small scoops of beef or just plain cheese.
-roll up tightly and line them up close together. I like to pack as many as I can into a dish. It's okay if some of them crack, you'll never know.
- Once finished, pour the chili sauce over the top and top with plenty of cheddar cheese.
-Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. Then, turn the oven onto broil and cook until the cheese is bubbly brown on top.

Quick Charro Beans

-2 cans pinto beans (rinsed well and drained)
-1/2 yellow onion (small chop)
-1 clove garlic (minced)
-1 small tomato (small chop)
-large handful of cilantro (washed and chopped finely)
-water (I never measure; you'll have to eyeball it)
-cumino
-garlic powder
-salt and pepper

In a small pot, on medium heat, lightly brown onion in a tsp of olive oil. Add minced garlic last and cook for another minute. Place beans in the pot and pour in enough fresh water to cover the top. Add the tomatoes, cilantro and spices and heat until warmed thoroughly.

Pico de Gallo (this one is authentic. We would go down to our favorite border town and order this all of the time at our favorite restaurant. Most people think pico de gallo is a tomato based salad but not in the Texas Border towns).

2 large avocados (cut into bite sized cubes)
2 large limes (juiced)
1/4 of a yellow onion (small dice)
1 small tomato (small dice)
small handful of cilantro (chopped up finely)
cumino, garlic powder, salt and pepper (to taste)

Mix it all in a bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours. We like to eat it in warm corn tortillas but it's great over the top of any Mexican food or a side dish.

Guacamole

2 large ripe avocados
juice of 2 limes
cumino
garlic powder
onion powder
salt pepper
You can add chopped up jalapeno and tomato if you'd like. I'm always too lazy to go to the trouble.

Mash up well until creamy. Serve with tortilla chips.

Try on foodnetwork.com a show called Mexican Made Easy. The host makes authentic food from Mexico with a twist. The recipes are quick and easy. Have fun!!! The only recipe that works and tastes like my grandmothers recipe is for CrockPot Beans (it tastes like you cooked it for hours over the stove).

One pound dried beans (picked and cleaned)
Half a package of salted pork
A couple of huge dashes of pepper and cumin
A couple of sprigs of cilantro (I am not a big fan of it but when I cook for company I add it)

Put beans and salted pork in a crockpot. Put enough water in crockpot to go above 1-2 inches above the beans. Sprinkle pepper and cumin in pot. Close crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. Monitor during the last hour to make sure there is enough water in pot still. Taste broth for seasonings. You won't need to add any salt maybe more pepper. Enjoy!!

Here is a quick easy recipe.

chicken breast
garlic clove(I use garlic in everything)
cumino
salt and pepper
1 can of rotel
1 slice of velveeta

I lightly spice the chicken with cumino, salt, and pepper. Put in a pan and pour the rotel and chopped garlic over chicken. Bake for 35 minutes. Then add velveeta. I don't use much velveeta b/c I only want a hint of cheese. Not a cheese sauce. Eat over rice!

I cook Puerto Rican food thanks to my mother in law. It's FABULOUS!!! A lot like Cuban... not 'hot' spicy, just tasty. Here's one of my recipes...

Puerto Rican Pork Roast "Pernil"…

The key is to do this at least 24 hours before cooking… If you are cooking Thursday morning, then spice it up Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning at the latest…

One large picnic pork roast-leave skin on
5 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic
6 packets of Sazon
4 Tablespoons of Adobo
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
6 Tablespoons of Sofrito
3 Teaspoons Tony Cacherie’s Seasoning (or Zataran’s)
1 stick of real salted butter (softened, but not melted)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut holes all over the pork roast. Approximately 30 holes or more. Stuff the mixture into each of the holes, and be generous. Make sure you do both sides of the roast. Rub the juice all over the roast.

Place the roast (skin side up) in the pan. Cover the entire roast with tin foil, and seal it as good as you can. Put it in the fridge until time to cook. Do not remove the tin foil!! Just slide it in the oven!!

Bake at 325 degrees for 4-6 hours. It will be so moist that it will fall off of the bone!!

This will not look pretty, but it will taste fabulous!!

EXPLANTATION OF SPICES…

You will find these in the “International Foods” or “Mexican Foods” section of Wal-Mart or HEB. Both products are made by Goya.
• Adobo by Goya – This is a seasoning that comes in a medium sized shaker… It looks like garlic powder.
• Sazon by Goya – This seasoning comes in a small box. The box that I use is bright yellow and orange. There are 6 packets inside of the box. This stuff even makes Hamburger Helper taste good! I use it on almost any meat, chicken, fish, etc.

Sofrito – This is a homemade spice that I make. It is two teaspoons of garlic, two bunches of cilantro, one small white onion, one bunch of green onions and two bell peppers. Blend it all in a blender very well until it is mush. I usually make a ton of this, and freeze it into ice cube trays. This is FABULOUS. You just sauté one cube before you make Puerto Rican Rice, or beans, or just about anything. It smells awesome and tastes even better.

If you don’t want to go to all of the trouble to make sofrito, then just blend fresh cilantro, garlic and onions. Don’t buy the sofrito in the store… it’s not good…

Hi S.,
Im mexican but I only make meals that are quick. I go to the ethnic section at the grocery store and stock up on tortillas, mole ( chocolate sauce to pour over chicken or pork, enchillads sauce ( I like the green best)
tostadas, refried beans. You can buy soups in a can that arent bad if you like menudo. Lots of these items have instructions also recipes to follow. Simple recipe for pico del gallo : two tomatoes, 1/2 yellow onion,1 jalapeno pepper,handfullof fresh cilantro. Dice onion, tomatoes and jalapeno, chop cilantro discarding long stems first. Combine in a bowl, squeeze 1 , lime and 1/2 a lemon of juice add salt to taste. Serve with tortilla chips or use as a side. You can also add avacado or shrimp to this recipe .

We LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican food also! I can't wait to try some of these recipes.

Nachos

These are not authentic at all.....but they are super delicious. They are our faves on a Friday or Saturday night in front of TV. Of course, the kids don't eat them because they are spicy.

Put can of refried beans in a pot and a can of rotel (juice included). YOu can use mild or generic if you are making it for the whole family and kids don't eat spicy). Stir and cook the beans and rotel until nice and hot and blended.
Lay tortilla chips on foil on a tray. Cover with the beans. Top with shredded cheese. We also put jalepenos on ours. Cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. When you can smell them....they are ready!